16:45N 22:58W

Twilight was never so good.  As we sailed into Palmeira bay, on the island of Sal in the Cape Verde archipelago, we were escorted by a playful group of dolphins, always great to see.  The sun was slowly sinking into the sea spreading a reddish glow everywhere, especially over the barren landscape.  This island is described as a slice of the Sahara in the Atlantic, with a few volcanic cones thrown in – from what we’ve seen so far, that’s accurate.  After six days and five nights at sea, including some pretty scruffy conditions, the prospect of a comfortable, quiet anchorage was bliss.  We anchored, tidied up Bandit and poured ourselves a huge rum…. we don’t drink on passage so this one made up for that!  Dinner was the mahimahi David caught yesterday – absolutely delicious.  We crashed at 8pm and didn’t stir until 8am this morning.

Our morning SSB radio check-in showed the value of such communications when one yacht crossing the Atlantic, about a third of the way across, called in with serious problems – he’d lost his rudder.  Naturally the skipper was fairly anxious about his situation and sought the advice of fellow cruisers.  Sailing with our group is one chap who has been at sea for 40 odd years and circumnavigated several times.  He came on and calmly came up with a solution – tow a makeshift drogue secured by a bridle to each corner of the transom which gives some steering.  Several other boats, although hundreds of miles away, immediately offered help and support if needed.  The boat has no option but to keep heading downwind for the Caribbean.  Regular radio checks have been arranged which must be comforting.  Good luck to them…..we will be anxiously following their progress along with 30 others on our daily net!!

We plan to spend a couple of days exploring Sal and then head west towards Sao Nicolau and Sao Vicente.  First plan is to head into the village here to get a few supplies and clear customs.  David has already visited a fellow cruiser (who we chased all the way down) and discovered that we take an open deck truck into the village…..the three mile trip costs a euro.  Now we just have to scramble around and try and find some euros (the currency is escuda but they love euros).  We tried hard to spend our last euros in the Canaries but I know if I dig into David’s pockets and drawers I will come up with some.